Kpando Assembly gets GH¢349,000 for passing performance assessment test

Mr. Akwasi Oppong-Fosu, the Minister of Local Government, Rural Development and Environment, has said the Kpando Municipal Assembly has qualified for an amount of GH¢349,129 to be used to develop the municipality by passing the Functional Organizational Assessment Tool (FOAT).

He said the performance of the Kpando Municipal Assembly also qualified the new North Dayi District to receive the same amount.

Mr Opong-Fosu said this when he launched the celebration of the centenary of the return of late King Dagadu Anku III from exile in Cameroun.

He said the government is aware of the socio-economic importance of the Kpando Traditional Area to the development of the country, hence its elevation to the status of a municipal assembly to provide quality services to the people.

Mr Opong-Fosu appealed to the chiefs, queen mothers and the people of the municipality to corporate with the Municipal Assembly to bring development to the area and appealed to them to take special interest in all programmes and projects of the assembly.

FOAT is a tool under the District Development Facility DDF, a performance-based grant system introduced by the government to be implemented by the ministry as part of its efforts to improve the performance of district assemblies in terms of efficiency, accountability and delivery of basic community services.

“Assemblies that perform well in the FOAT assessment will be rewarded with financial resources from the ministry to develop their municipalities,” he added

Mr Oppong-Fosu said the government’s decentralization programme was beneficial because its functions such as providing municipal infrastructure, basic health care, sanitation and waste management and  providing  security were best situated and delivered at local government levels.

Okpekpewuokpe Togbui Dagadu VIII, the Paramount Chief of Akpini, said the festival was instituted to commemorate the return of Okpekpewuokpe Togbui Dagadu Anku III from exile in Cameroun on January 22, 1915.

King Dagadu Anku III was sent into exile on March 13, 1914 for being critical of the policies of Germany, then governing the Volta Region as part of Trans-Volta Togoland.

He was freed on September 27, 1914 by British forces that defeated the German army in Cameroun during World War 1.

Togbui Dagadu said King Dagadu Anku III did not fight against colonialism for the well being of only his people in Akpini State but also for the whole of the then Togoland.

Source: GNA